Félix Houphouët-Boigny

Since 1993, when Henri Konan Bédié succeeded Félix Houphouët-Boigny as President, Muslim northerners have struggled to get identity papers, officials have accused them of hiding their foreign origins and abuses linked to constant identity checks have mounted...

They style themselves the Alliance de Houphouëtistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix, in reference to Côte d'Ivoire's founding father Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who chose to build an economy rather than a nation but is revered for the peace and prosperity the country then enjoyed...

Former President Henri Konan Bédié is in Paris and Laurent Dona Fologo has been shunted upstairs to the advisory Conseil Economique et Social, where he can mourn the welcome for foreigners preached by Côte d'Ivoire's first President, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, without rocking the boat...